AUTHOR'S NOTES: So I finally shifted this story over to the crossover realm. I probably should have had it that was from the start, but, eh.

While this may not be my best chapter, the next one will be beyond awesome, I promise.

Chapter 21

The Song Remains the Same

The bar was dark and Dean and Fiona were the only patrons present, exempting a college kid sitting in the corner typing away on his laptop.

As quiet as the room was, it made the sudden appearance of Anna all the more startling.

"You have to get out of here. Now," she said, quickly, looking panicked.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, also worried.

"Lucifer is coming after Fiona," Anna went on, talking as fast as she could. "Where can I find you later?"

"Uh, Hopwood Motel," Fiona said, still not sure why Lucifer would be after her. Unless he was going to use her as bait. "Room 42."

"I'll see you there," Anna said before winging out.

Dean didn't waste any time. Throwing down enough bills to cover the drinks, he and Fi made tracks for the Impala.

xxxxx

It was like an angel convention when Dean and Fi got to the motel room. Sam was sitting on the bed, looking from Anna, to Castiel, to Gabriel.

"What's with the halo party?" Dean asked as he closed and locked the door.

But before anyone answered, Castiel stepped forward and branded Fiona's ribs with the same Enochian sigil he'd used on Sam and Dean. "That will keep you hidden from Lucifer and all other angels."

"Yeah, which makes me wonder," Dean said with a glare towards Cas. "Why the hell didn't you do that first thing?"

"I didn't consider that Lucifer would come after Fiona," Castiel argued. "And Fiona was my only way of finding you and Sam."

"And it never occurred to you that Lucifer could use that?" Gabriel scoffed. "Come on! Luci's been tracking them—" he guestured to the three hunters. "—for the past month now! Ever since Carthage."

"Okay, why would Lucifer be after me?" Fiona asked, still not sure what was going on. "What, because I'm Sam's girlfriend?"

Cas caught looks from the others, but ignored them and replied, "When you gave your blood to save Sam, it made you a potential vessel for Lucifer. It wouldn't be the most ideal, but with Sam refusing, it may become his only option."

"How long have you known about this, Cas?" Dean asked, taking a step towards the angel, his eyes narrowed.

Castiel tried to dodge the question, but failed. "I fail to see the importance of—"

"How long?" Dean asked again, raising his voice.

Castiel let out a sigh. "Since before Sam was born," he admitted, lowering his gaze.

"Castiel, what are you saying?" Anna said, just as shocked as Sam and Dean.

Castiel looked up and tried to explain. "I overheard a plan to insure that Fiona Brendon would be a suitable vessel for Lucifer if something should happen to Sam."

"But then why would Lilith try to kill me? Why kill my mother?" Fiona asked, still very confused.

"Because of conflicting prophecies," Castiel explained. "There are some angels who believe that you are the only one who can safeguard Sam's soul. Then there are others who believe that you may be a stronger vessel for Lucifer."

"Great!" Fiona said, sarcastically as she threw her hands up. "First Lilith kills both my parents, and then she possesses me so that I stab myself and break the final seal. This can not get any worse."

"So how do we fix this?" Sam asked the group at large. "I mean there has to be some way to undo this."

"There's one way," Gabriel spoke up, looking at the hunters before looking to Castiel and Anna. "You two keep an eye on things here. I'll take Shenzi, Banzi, and Ed here back to 1978. Should be enough time to take care of things."

"Wait, 1978?" Sam said, confused. "I wasn't even born then."

"No, but I was," Fiona replied, swallowing. She thought back and finally asked, "Okay… Uh, then w-we need to go back before July 22nd."

Gabriel didn't ask why that date was important but he just acquiesced. A large part of him still felt in love with Fiona, but noticing how she and Sam were, he knew that it wasn't possible. Besides… he was an archangel/Trickster and she was a human.

32 Years Ago

July 20th, 1978

Riding high on her father's shoulders, 3-year-old Fiona Abigail Brendon knew that life didn't get any better than this. Her mother tickled her bare leg and she laughed, accidentally kicking her dad in the shoulder.

"Careful, honey," Chase warned, gently.

"Oh, no!" James said, suddenly stopping and bending over quickly, making sure Fiona didn't fall off.

Fiona screamed and squealed with delight as her father straightened up, patting her leg reassuringly. She smiled at her mother and hugged her dad's head, accidentally covering his eyes. When she looked around, Fiona frowned as she saw two men and a woman staring at her from across the street. One man was tall—taller than her daddy—and the other was a little shorter and wore some kind of weird necklace. The woman sat in a wheelchair and was looking wistful as she stared.

"What's wrong, baby?" Chase asked, noticing the frown on her daughter's face.

"Mommy, who's that?" Fiona asked, pointing at the three people.

Chase and James looked but only caught a glimpse of the trio as they hurried off, apparently trying to avoid being identified.

"Don't worry about it, Bug," James said, watching the group. The tall guy in particular had looked oddly familiar for some reason.

x

"Okay, what was that all about?" Dean asked Fiona once he, Sam, and Fiona were sitting in the corner of a café nearby. "You were like… laser-focused on that kid and her parents."

"You didn't recognize them, did you?" Fiona asked, looking down at her coffee cup.

Dean's eyes widened as he thought back. The woman had looked very much like Fiona. Leaning back in his chair, he said, "That was you and your parents." Leaning forward and studying Fiona, he asked, "And the reason you had Gabriel bring us back to today?"

"Because two days from now…" Fiona looked up at Sam and Dean. "…Mom's going to be dead."

"So what do we do now?" Sam wondered out loud. They had two days before Fiona's mother was in the car crash. Somehow they had to stop the crash and figure out away to save John and Mary Winchester.

Dean had been thinking the same thing and looking at Fiona and Sam, he came to a decision. "Look, this is about the same time James finds out about all this, right?" he said, looking at Fiona.

"Couple months ago, yeah," Fiona replied. "Something to do with werewolves, I think."

Dean nodded, thoughtfully. "Okay, Fi, you go see…" He took a deep breath and said, "Fiona, you have to go see our parents."

Fiona frowned as though Dean was suddenly speaking a foreign language. "Wait, what? Dean, you want me to go talk to John and Mary? No. Why can't you do it?"

Dean was quiet but finally he replied, "Because Mom knows me. Okay? And the last time she saw me was right when her dad died. Sam and I will go talk to Chase and James, alright?" But when he noticed how reluctant Fiona was to go along with the plan, he frowned, suspiciously. "Fi, what is it?"

Fiona had known it was coming. She'd expected the questions for a long time but when they never came, she just figured she'd dodged a bullet. But realizing that discussion was now unavoidable, she gulped down the rest of her coffee and pushed the cup away as she said, "My grandparents—my mom's parents—objected when Mom and Dad got married." Looking Sam and Dean in the eyes, she added, "Because Dad was a Marine grunt… and Mom was… a society girl."

"Come again?" Dean said, not sure he was hearing things right. "So your mom is—"

"Loaded," Fiona finished. "Gramps wanted to cut Mom off, but Grammy wouldn't allow it." Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair. "Grammy had a trust fund set up in my name since I was 5." She winced, expecting the brothers to lay into her.

"That's how you've been taking care of the nicer hotels and health insurance problems," Sam concluded. Leaning back, he found himself looking at Fiona in a whole new light. All the times they'd been in dump motels together, eating at cheap diners and Fiona had been rich? "Why wouldn't you tell us about this sooner?"

"Because I don't use the money all that often," Fiona argued. "I mean… when I ended up paralyzed I paid up my health insurance for 2 years in advance. But that and the townhouse are the two biggest uses of the money. Hell, I bought my old car used and paid it off myself from what I made with the Marines."

"Okay," Dean said, flatly as he looked from Fiona to Sam. "You two take Fi's folks. I'll go talk to Mom myself."

Mary Winchester was happy for the first time she could remember. She was married, she had her own place… And her previous life as a hunter was all but forgotten.

So when she answered the front door and saw Dean, the hunter who had been working the case her father had died on, she immediately thought the worst. "Whatever you want, I don't do that stuff anymore," she said, quickly, going to close the door.

"This isn't about you," Dean interjected, holding the door open. "It's about Chase Brendon."

Mary paused and she opened the door wider and stepped aside. "Come in," she said, hesitantly.

Dean entered the house and when Mary turned to face him after closing the door, he said didn't wait for her to ask why he was there. "Chase is in trouble."

Mary looked alarmed at that bit of news. "Is she… What kind of trouble?"

Dean licked his lips, thinking of what to say. "Yes," he said, finally. "The kind of trouble that you know about personally."

Those words made Mary feel like her blood had turned to ice as she remembered the yellow-eyed demon who had killed her parents. "The demon?" she asked, simply, knowing Dean would know what she was talking about.

"The one he's working for," Dean clarified. Looking around, he added, "There's more. But I need you and John to come with me."

"Where?" Mary asked, long abandoned instincts rising to the surface.

Surprised that he wasn't met with more resistance, Dean stammered for a second or two before saying, "We gotta go find Chase and James."

Fiona had so few memories of her mother that it was painfully easy to pretend the woman was a stranger.

Chase Brendon had been extremely welcoming when Sam and Fi had come by the house, saying that they were looking at the neighborhood. James took Sam for a tour of the house while Fiona and Chase went into the living room. A housekeeper brought in a coffee tray and set it down on the coffee table before leaving quickly.

Fiona looked around, amazed at the world her mother lived in. An expensive house, a housekeeper… Was this what she could have grown up with?

"So what can I do for you?" Chase asked, pouring coffee and adding cream and sugar to her cup.

"My boyfriend and I are looking for a new house," Fiona lied. "I used to be in this townhouse in DC, but then I was in this attack and I ended up paralyzed so stairs are a problem right now."

"God…" Chase breathed as she glanced in the direction of the stairs. "I-I can't imagine what I'd do if something like that happened to my little girl."

"You have a daughter?" Fiona asked, trying to sound casual, even though this was one of the most surreal situations she'd ever been in.

"Fiona," Chase said with a proud smile. With an amused smile, she added, "I've never met another Fiona before."

"My mother just thought the name sounded pretty," Fi replied, shrugging before taking another drink of her black coffee.

"Mommy!" 3-year-old Fiona ran into the room from the kitchen, and headed straight to her mother who picked her up, setting her on her lap. Little Fiona looked at her grown-up self and said, "She's the lady who was watching me, Mommy."

Fi looked embarrassed when Chase looked at her and when Chase finally shooed Little Fiona out of the room, she asked, "Why were you watching my daughter earlier?"

Fiona wanted to tell her mother the truth but decided to wait until Dean came with John and Mary to explain. "Sam and I… we want to have kids, but…"

Chase seemed to melt almost instantly, nodding. "I understand. Um…" Leaning forward, she kept her voice down as she spoke. "I know most parents were a gift from God, but… with Fiona it was anything but."

Fiona set her cup down and leaned forward as well. "Tell me." When Chase seemed reluctant, Fi reached forward and put a hand on her mother's knee, waiting until the older woman looked at her. "Sam and I want a child more than anything. How did you do it?"

Chase sighed and shook her head. "It was all so surreal," she replied. "It was this… this man in a bar. He had this English accent and he said he could help me get pregnant. I told him I'd do anything if he could help." Frowning, she added, "Then he kissed me. 'Sealing the deal', he said."

Fiona didn't know what to say to that. She wanted so much to tell Chase the truth—to let her mother hug her tightly and tell her everything would be okay. And she wanted to warn her mother about what would happen the day after tomorrow.

"Ma'am?" the housekeeper, Grace, said as she came into the room. "The Winchesters are here."

"Uh, show them in, please," Chase said awkwardly as she stood. "Thank you. Grace."

A few moments later, Sam, Dean, John, and Mary came in, followed by James.

Fiona looked at her parents and the Winchesters and after a long pause, she said, "We need to talk."

"No, we don't," Mary Winchester spoke up, looking like she was o the verge of tears. When Fiona looked to argue, Mary shook her head, firmly. "Dean told John and me who you and Sam really are."

"Mary, what are you talking about?" Chase asked, looking from Sam to Dean to Fiona.

"It's complicated," Mary explained, although a quick glance at James confirmed that he also knew about the supernatural. Looking back to her best friend, she said, "I'll explain if you want me to, but trust me… You're better off not knowing."

"No, she has to know," Fiona exclaimed. Looking at Chase, she said, "I'm your daughter." Ignoring Chase's astonished and skeptical look, Fi went on. "My full name is Fiona Abigail Brendon. You named me after your great-grandmother and your favorite aunt. Tomorrow, you and Dad take me to the zoo and I get scared by the zebras." She took a breath and added, "The day after… y… you take me to the toy store and get me a stuffed zebra that I name ZigZag."

Chase looked stunned, but looking into the woman's eyes—her eyes—she knew it was true. "My baby…" she said, sitting down again and touching Fiona's cheek with one hand.

Fiona tried to reign in her emotions as she looked at John and Mary. "We came back here to change the past. To save you." Looking at her own parents, she added, "All of you."

"You can't," Chase sighed, looking heartbroken about the idea. Looking from her daughter to Sam and Dean. "You don't know what changing the past could do."

"Mom, listen," Dean said; before Mary could cut him off, he hurried on. "Before Sam is 6 months old, you take him and you run. You get as far away as you can."

"Dean," Mary said, tears in her eyes as she looked at her older son. "I can't run. You know that it'll never be over. Besides…" She looked down at her still flat belly and then back up at the man her baby would become. "It's too late."

John looked floored as his eyes went from his wife to his full-grown sons. Mary was already pregnant. He wished he could take her away from everything. Some place where nothing evil would ever find her. But if Mary was right than nothing anyone did now would matter. But maybe there was something he could control. "Who's godfather?" he asked, looking at Sam and Dean.

"James," Dean replied, flatly. "And, uh… Dad, you're godfather to Jethro Gibbs' daughter, Kelly."

"Uh, about Jethro," James asked looking curious. "H-He's still—"

"He's still alive," Sam assured him. "Listen, there's something you need to know," he said, knowing that it probably wouldn't make much difference. "He'll need you. It'll be bad and he won't ask for help, but he'll need you and John to be there."

"You got it," James assured him.

Present Day

Castiel and Anna were surprised when Sam, Dean, Fiona and Gabriel suddenly reappeared in the motel room.

"What happened?" Anna asked, confused. "Nothing changed. Was there a problem, or…?"

"No problem," Dean assured her, pulling a fresh bottle of whiskey out of his bag and opened it before taking a long swig and passing it around.

"Then why didn't you stop it?" Anna asked, still not understanding. How could the three go back and still let everything unfold?

"Because all the good Sam and I have done… everyone we've saved—everyone Fi's saved—that was all be erased. "So, yeah. We didn't do anything. Cause I figure it's better going out knowing that you did something good."

Anna snatched the liquor bottle from Sam who had been about to take a sip and took an extra long drink. "You guys are freakin' idiots," she grumbled, handing the bottle to Gabriel.

"Welcome to Team Free Will," Dean said with a smile as he took another sip from the bottle.

"'Team Free Will'?" Sam repeated, looking at Dean with a raised brow.

"Yep," Dean confirmed, looking at the group and pointing to each in turn. "One ex-blood junkie, a drop-out with 6 bucks to his name, a paralyzed Marine, two rebel angels, and an archangel turned trickster. Awesome."

"That's not funny," Anna replied, frowning.

"Hey, at least we're better than Team Edward," Gabriel pointed out, conjuring a second bottle of whiskey as Fiona finished off the first.